At present, the processes for extracting helium from natural gas at home and abroad mainly include cryogenic method, adsorption method, membrane separation method, or a combination of two or three processes used together.
1) Deep cooling method
Deep cold distillation is a commonly used method in most medium to large natural gas recovery helium plant. The principle is to use liquid nitrogen as a refrigerant (about -190 ℃) to gradually condense hydrocarbons and other components in natural gas, and due to the extremely low boiling point of helium, it ultimately separates from other components in natural gas.
2)Pressure swing adsorption method
The pressure swing adsorption (PSA) process uses different adsorbents to adsorb components of natural gas other than helium, thereby separating helium products. Generally, PSA adsorption towers are filled with separation beds of different adsorption materials to cope with different components in natural gas, such as silica gel or alumina beds for water removal, activated carbon beds for carbon dioxide removal, zeolite beds for methane and nitrogen removal, and so on. After the adsorbent saturates the impurity gas, methods such as depressurization backflushing or vacuum pumping can be used to resolve the impurity gas, thereby restoring the activity of the adsorbent.
3)Membrane separation method
Gas separation membrane is a relatively novel separation technology. Gas components transfer mass on polymer films (such as acetate fibers, polypropylene, polysulfone, polyimide, etc.) based on the principle of dissolution diffusion. The separation of each component is achieved by varying the solubility and diffusion rate of different gas components in the membrane material. When a mixture of two or more gases passes through a polymer film, the permeation rate of components such as helium and hydrogen is much higher than that of nitrogen, methane, and other hydrocarbons.
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Post time: Mar-01-2024
